Router Recommendations

[The Hobo]

I need to buy a router so I can share my broadband connection between two computers. Does anybody have an suggestions? Are there any shady ones out there, or any really good ones?

[Pc_Madness]

I'm quite a fan of my Dlink DI-704P.

[Ideas Man]

If you need wireless, I'd go for the DSL-604+, I got it, it's a beauty, hasn't missed a beat since I bought it.

[dsheller]

I don't know how much a router would cost you, but if you don't need to worry about blocking ports on the hardware level you could probably get a switch on the cheap which would do the same, as long as it had an uplink toggle button.

[plenderj]

Do you already have a cable or dsl modem installed?

[The Hobo]

Originally posted by plenderj
Do you already have a cable or dsl modem installed?

Yes.

[dglienna]

Now I have a Linksys Wireless Router, which works very well. In the past I have used a few different brands, and they all seem to work equally well. Make sure that whatever you buy is compatible with your ISP. (For DSL, the router must be able to LOG ON, which can be configured to do ON DEMAND, or stay open all the time [which I prefer].
Of course, you could do it the old way. Just buy hub with the number of ports that you have computers, and use the main computer's ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) feature. It used to be more hassle than it was worth, but now, it configures easily.
Just get a second network card for your main computer, and plug it into the hub. You can then plug other computers into the remaining ports, which auto-configure with internet access. If you use the same workgroup name, then you can see all machines on the network. The only drawback is that the main machine has to be logged on to the Internet for the others to access it.
The benefits of a router is the built-in firewall.

[dsheller]

I find the internet connection sharing crap degrade performance, also with a hub collisions are more likely because hubs dont make decisions based on the data they are given, swithces and routers however do, switches can decide where a packet has to go based on header information etcetera, routers... same deal except they have all that built in stuff like firewalls...

Hope i explained that right, been a while since i took my cisco course.

[The Hobo]

Thanks for the recommendations and information, everyone. I think I'm going to go out tomorrow and look at prices, and check some websites, too, and see what I can find.

Thanks, again.

[plenderj]

If your ethernet modem is already connected, then you're just looking for a "wireless broadband router". Very easy to setup.
I myself am using D-Link's DI-624+.

[VisionIT]

*sneaks off to look for hacks for D-Link's DI-624+'s *

[The Hobo]

I ended up purchasing a D-Link DI-524 and could not get it to work. I had various friends help me, but none of them could get it to work, either.

I did some searching online and found horrible reviews everywhere for it, and it seems people were having every problem imaginable with it.

I finally exchanged it for a Linksys WRT54G. It setup easily and so far I haven't had any problems with it.

[Dave Sell]

Don't buy a device when you can build one out of your spare computer parts!

Have a 386DX or better mobo+CPU?

Have a spare floppy drive?

Have 2 old network cards?

Then build your own firewall with Floppy Firewall running on an linux kernal, no hard drive required.

http://www.zelow.no/floppyfw/

I have had this running for 4 years without a hitch. I had game servers running in my LAN visible to the internet, as well as played DirectGames (MS) games from inside on multiple clients (not an easy task).

Its very versitlie and very secure.

[plenderj]

Well the concept of a firewall is rather a simple one - all you need is two or more network interfaces, and then some software to perform routing/nat.

[dsheller]

Two interfaces and a switch works pretty easily.

[DoorKeeper]

I bought a Netgear RP614. works beautifully.